This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we have a podcast-swaparoo with my homie Joe Rupe, host of Lighting the Void, and we're both celebrating the fresh release of my audiobook Dive Manual: Empirical Investigations of Mysticism. With the paperback released in 2020, Joe has lended his narration and editing talents to help me bring this book into audio form, and since he took the time to read the entire thing -- including all the outtakes and re-reads -- he now has quite a bit to say about it all.
I admittedly have a hard time explaining this book briefly, but it is data-driven research about my own investigations into mysticism, magick, and the religious experience. I look heavily into scientific concepts like Jungian psychoanalysis, sleep paralysis, dream analysis, phantom limb syndrome, memetics, and chaos theory. In addition, I also investigate the mechanics and history of things like alchemy, astrology, tarot, numerology, reincarnation, the Trees of Life & Death, Hermeticism, Gnostic Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism, Kabbalah, Paganism, and much more. Lastly, it has at times a semi-fictional framework that includes me as the narrator guiding you as the reader through the proverbial diving experience.
There's more I could say, but I will leave it at that for now! It's a winding journey about insanity, neuroticism, catharsis, unexplainable phenomena, and ineffable transcendence.
Don't forget -- if you dig Dive Manual, check out my second work Hunt Manual: 21st Century Demonology & Forteana. Joe has plans to bring this to audiobook form soon as well!
This week's featured music is brought to you by the extremely badass rock n' roll talents of ZIG MENTALITY, including some of their collaborations with their well-known homies CLEOPATRICK. I'm very excited to be able to bump these killer musicians and you really oughta check em out!
